Year 3

Class 1 is taught by Mrs. Chapman (Thursday and Friday) and Miss Walker (Monday-Wednesday). Class 2 is taught by Mr. Lennon (Monday-Wednesday)  Mrs. Crissell (Thursday and  Friday ). We are supported by our wonderful Teaching Assistants; Mrs Rootes, Mrs Kaminski, Mrs Lark and Miss Rootes.

In year 3, we study a range of subjects across the year. These subjects are: English, Maths, Whole Class Reading, Spelling and Phonics, Science, History, Geography, Design Technology, Art, RE, Computing, Music, French, PE and PSHE and wellbeing.

English:

In the first few weeks of  Autumn term in English, the children focus on spelling, punctuation and grammar. Particular attention is paid to sentence structure. The children will write a story based around the text called ‘A Crow’s Tale’ and the short Disney film called ‘The Blue Umbrella’. They will then write in a non-fiction holiday brochure relating to Skara Brae.

In the spring term, year 3 write a narrative inspired by the traditional tale of the 3 little pigs as well as writing the ending of a graphic novel based around an Egyptian adventure called ‘Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx’.  The children will also write a poem linked to PSHE and they will complete a piece of creative writing based around a picture or short film.

In the summer term, children continue their writing journey by writing a narrative inspired by a story called ‘The Book Eating boy’, a piece of creative writing and a diary entry centered around the Romans.

Reading:

In the first few weeks of the academic year, children are assessed and given a coloured book band that relates to their reading age level. These books can be changed as and when the child needs to. The children are encouraged to change their books independently. Children can also access books from the school library and the classroom reading corners to further extend their love of reading.

Children have the opportunity to read in a number of ways when at school. 3 days a week, the children are able to take part in whole class reading sessions that focus on vocabulary, contextual clarification, echo reading, partner reading and answering questions that focus on vocabulary, inferences, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising. During the week, children may also be heard read by adults in the year group and reading volunteers. Children can also be selected to read with our reading therapy dog called Nelson!

Phonics and Spelling:

On entry to year 3, the children are assessed using the Phonics International assessment. Children are then placed into phonics or spelling groups based on the results. Children who attend the phonics sessions work through the units of sound covering 4 sounds a week until unit 6 is reached. During unit 6, one sound is taught over 2 days. Children who attend the spellings groups have 4 sessions across a week and are taught using the sounds and syllables scheme. One spelling pattern is taught across a week.

Maths

Autumn – Number and place value/addition and subtraction/multiplication and division/time/lines and angles/shape

Spring – Further multiplication and division/fractions/money/time

Summer – length/mass/volume/perimeter/pictograms and bar graphs

Foundation subjects

A curriculum overview for the other subjects can be found below.

Each week, we have two PE sessions that cover a range of topics. Our PE days in year 3 are Tuesday and Thursday. On these days, children should come to school in their PE kit.

We have RE/PSHE and Music taught each week by a specialist teacher and these lessons take place on a Wednesday afternoon.

Trips and experiences:

Across the year we have exciting visits and trips including: a trip to along the River Cam combined with a visit to the Cambridge technology museum, an Egyptian experience day and a trip to Colchester Castle.

Home Learning

Each week, we ask that the children read to an adult 3 times for the duration of 10 minutes. This read should then be logged in their reading diary which is checked by an adult in the year 3 team. Children who attend the daily phonics groups will also bring home reading that directly links to the phonemes learned that week. These should be read and practiced. These can also be entered into the reading diary.

Maths home learning is set through the Mathletics website and your child’s log in details can be found in the back of their reading diary. Tasks are set weekly for the children to complete and these are linked to what they have been learning in class but also previous consolidation of what has been learnt in key stage 1. Spelling challenges will be set via an online platform called spelling shed and should be practised weekly to support the spelling check that takes place in school.

Extended opportunities for learning are given and these can be found from the menus below. Each extended opportunity menu is linked to the following terms learning so that the children have an opportunity to research and find out information before they are taught it in the classroom.